Despite the news of my husband finding out he has cancer in his left thigh I feel very Euphoric today. Back story on Andy's leg. The bad news: It's cancer the good news: once the tumor is removed (02-11-11 is surgery date) he will be cancer free. We are so thankful that if he has to have this terrible disease in his body that God is good and allowed this to be the best of the worst kind of news we could expect.

Today is my first day back to work, back to the gym, back to a real routine. It feels good to be back!

Today I dominated the treadmill. I wish I would have brought my outdoor gear so I could run outside because it was decent enough to do so and will be the last time for a while before it is decent enough to do so. I decided that I was going to start over on the couch to 5K program. So week 1 work out is walk at a brisk pace for 5 minutes then run for 1 minute walk for 90 seconds repeat for 20 minutes end by walking for 5 minutes total time 30 minutes. Do this 3 times this week.

In the past (like in December) I would walk at 3mph and run at 4mph. Today I thought I want to see what I can do so I still did my walking at 3mph and bumped up my running speed to 4.5mph. I know to most this is child's play but for me..this was good news! I'm thinking Wednesday I'm going to bump my speed up to 5mph

Weight loss while out on medical leave was 12 pounds. Now the key is to keep those off.

My thought of the day: If dreading eating right or working out think of it like this. Why do you go to work? Or if your a homemaker why do you take care of your children, clean your house, pay the bills, etc? Because you have to in order to survive. When it comes to being healthy, being/becoming an athlete and weight loss this also becomes a job and like work (in and outside the home) it is rewarding. Rewarding with a paycheck, job well done, clean home, great kids, money in your checking/savings account. Work is necessary in order to survive. So before you put that bad food in your mouth or chose the couch over the treadmill think of how this will maximize your performance to get the best results.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My prayer is that this song becomes everyones prayer. I hope everyone listens to it with their eyes closed and open mind. All that we do on this earth is to glorify the King. May every piece of food you put in your mouth and every action/step make you think, how is this going to glorify the King. How can I use myself and my body to help further the Kingdom. If you're reading and you're not "religious"/Christ follower (I hate that word, religious) think of how will the food you put into your body further your legacy. How will your actions affect those that you think are not watching (ie..our children).

Everything we do to better ourselves needs to be selfish but realize that "YOU" are just a tiny piece in the puzzle. What we do in life has a long term effect for good or for bad. It is OK to be selfish. If being selfish means you need to work out for 30 minutes a day so you can go out there, have better focus, more energy, be happy, etc. Who really does that effect? Sure it effects you but in the big picture it effects our loved ones because we will be more attentive to their needs, our employers because we'll be more productive at work and probably a little more nice to be around. If being selfish means you need to spend 20 minutes more a week searching for healthier recipes so you can feed your body what she needs vs. junk food then so be it. Again, who is to benefit here? You, your loved ones, friends, and employers. All of which will benefit from you being selfish and from you taking time to get your self right.

So do it....Go to the "Garden" pray that you die to yourself so that love can tell it's tale!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

As a woman it really is such a shame that we don't put more value on ourselves and consider ourselves more successful and worthy.

We (men too) are beautiful creatures created in God's image. I know there have been times that I don't feel like I'm beautiful, valued, worthy, successful, etc. Where I have learned to love myself no matter what condition I'm in is in the times of struggle. I am so thankful for every psycho moment I put myself through and those that love me the most. In the midst of the struggle it's not fun but it took those struggles to get me where I am today.

WARNING: Deeply personal moment about to come out:

I hate the fact that it took my husband telling me "Tiffany, I love you and will never leave you but if you keep this up I can't guarantee that I will be in love with you forever." This was back in 2004 by the way...

In that moment I think it's fair to say that I hated him for saying that to me HOWEVER it was the best thing he said to me. It smacked me right across my face and forced me to get help for myself. If I didn't get help for myself my life would be worthless. What good would I be to a man that committed to love me and be with me forever, what kind of a woman would I be, what kind of child would I be to my parents, what kind of sister would I be to my sister, what kind of mother would I be, what kind of a friend would I be? Even bigger what kind of child of God would I be?

Now can I say since I've received help with therapy, Rx, vitamins, diet and excersize that life is a bowl of cherries and all is great and wonderful...NO but what I can tell you is that I embrace the hard times and look for the silver lining in everything. From everything bad there is good.

Just remember that no matter what you are worth it, you are worthy, you are a success, you are beautiful, you are strong. If you don't feel that way please I urge you to get help and know that if you ever want to talk I'm here too. Not that I'm all wise and worthy but I am a good listener and do have a little insight.

To quote the great Stuart Smalley, "I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me."

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

As you know I had my tonsils removed on January 11th. Here it is January 18th and I'm still in a lot of pain but getting back to 100% slowly and surely.

I kind of have joked that the upside to this surgery is weight loss. Well weight loss I have succeeded at thus far. Since January 11th I've lost 11 pounds. Granted this is not a healthy way to lose weight but heck I'll take it.

During this time I've still made choices on what to put into my body. Granted my diet right now consists of jello, yogurt, sherbet, mashed potatoes and other soft foods. I realize right now that I could feast on ice cream, heavy mac and cheese, etc. Don't get me wrong I have but in very small doses. Not only because I just can't eat it but I don't want to over do it.

Something that I've learned is that my body can't take the bad for me foods much anymore and honestly that makes me happy. I really long for the day that I can eat a salad, salmon, chicken, green beans, etc.

I have been following doctors orders and not working out but I'll be honest it's KILLING me. I miss my sweat so bad. I can't wait to get my fat ace back into the gym and kill her! So that I'm not a total bum while recovering I have been getting up every day, showering, putting on make up, doing my hair, going for little walks around the house, today we went to the apple store to learn about using some software so I got that little walk in. After the apple store I did come home and sleep for about 2 hours. So I'm still moving and still getting lots of rest just like the doctor ordered.

So I just read this and really it doesn't make much sense and I'm rambling but oh well...This is me...I'm all jacked up on pain meeds (to the toon of "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" when Ricky Bobby's son says "I'm going to come at you like a spider monkey, I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew Chip.")

Until next time...get out there, eat well, work out hard and watch "Talladega Nights"

Monday, January 17, 2011

So I started this blog to share my journey for anyone that wanted to read and for myself and I've not been faithful in blogging.

So take 2...My journey is still on path and I've been successful.

Since I last blogged I ran a 5K. I did the Iowa State Fairgrounds 5K on November 7, 2010 and I did it in 56 minutes. I did a 2 mile fun run/Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving mooring in the BITTER Iowa cold and my time was 33 minutes. I shaved 1 minute 7 seconds off my mile. No races since due to the winter weather but I have continued to work out, running on the treadmill, doing the couch to 5K program and building from there. I'm going to do the fight for air climb at the end of March and I'm on the fence about doing the Red Flannel 3 mile run in Feburary. It will depend on the weather honestly.

At my gym durning the holidays (Thanksgiving to New Year) we had a "maintain don't gain" program and I didn't maintain or gain but I LOST 7 pounds! YEA! Go Me!

2011 has been off to a slow start. At the end of 2010 I developed yet again another case of strep throat. I think that put me up to #4 or 5 for 2010 and in the last 3 years probably 15 cases total. Needless to say I had my tonsils removed on 01/11/11 and currently am sidelined from eating anything of substance and working out. The silver lining in getting what my ENT said "meatballs" (yes the ENT referred to my tonsils as meatballs and that he'd never seen tonsils so large and so damaged) removed is I'm down 10 pounds. I hope to not gain that back at all once I can regain my normal healthy eating and working out.

The pastor at our Church yesterday challenged us to use our talents God has given us. For years I've thought I have no talents to offer and yesterday it hit me and almost knocked me over...I am going to inspire to Run to be Radiant. I want to run to use my temple to glorify God. Andy, my husband is a wonderful cook!! His talent is cooking healthy and cooking on a tight budget. He LOVES to see how much he can buy for how little. We are going to talk to our pastor soon on how we can use our talents to help our church.

So that was the year end in review for me and what is going on thus far in 2011 for me. For now this blog will be a little slow but not for long.